Handbook of Practical X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis

Within the last decade, however, advancements in technology, software development, and methodologies for quantification have provided an impetus to XRF research and application, leading to striking new improvements. The recent technological advances, including table-top instruments that take advantage of novel low-power micro-focus tubes, novel X-ray optics and detectors, as well as simplified access to synchrotron radiation, have made it possible to extend XRF to low Z elements and to obtain two and three-dimensional information from a sample on a micrometer-scale. The development of portable and hand-held devices has enabled a more flexible use of XRF in a variety of new situations, such as archaeometry and process control. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation provides high excitation flux and even speciation capabilities due to energetically tunable radiation.

The present handbook is not intended to be a textbook with interdependent chapters, rather a reference in which the information in each section is largely self-contained. In this way, the reader is not required to read the handbook from cover to cover, but can refer to any section without a lot of additional background.

Chapters Overview:

The handbook is organized as follows. The first chapter provides a historical account of XRF and an introduction reflecting the extension of XRF to modern fields of methodology and applications. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 follow the path of a photon in an XRF instrument, originating at a source (2), being modified by an optic (3), and registered by a detector (4). Chapter 5 deals with the various aspects of quantifying the spectra obtained from a sample by this instrument. Expert information on how to prepare the sample is the theme of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 is devoted to a variety of applications: micro-, trace, and layer analysis; environmental, geological, archaeometric, forensic, and biomedical applications; and process control. The handbook concludes with a discussion on safety regulations and useful links to physical data (Chapter 8).

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